Gen Daniel A to Z: Letter "W" - "Words of Beauty/Love/Life"
Daniel lay almost motionless under the blazing sun.
In this place…
The hot breeze teased at his boonie and rustled dried grasses in quiet counterpoint to the shush-shush-shushing of the brush in his hand.
…the People came/were born/arrived…
The planet was quiet in the mid-day heat. An occasional call from one of the small gray birds reminded him of the mourning doves he'd encountered on a student dig in South Texas. The mournful cry seemed fitting for the stillness; the emptiness.
Demons/Evil Ones/Death Bringers ended all.
Even the crunch of loose rock under Jack's boots as he patrolled seemed quieter than usual, as if the ground itself whispered out of respect for those who had lived here. Who had died here.
…ended us…
Daniel set down the broad brush and gently ran his latex covered fingers over the exposed text.
We danced/walked/moved under endless stars/night/shadows…
He had a sample of the material for testing, but Daniel had a feeling he knew exactly what the artificial stone was made of. It felt very similar to porcelain. He wouldn't say anything until he got the lab results, but he knew in his gut that the People, as they'd called themselves, had manufactured the material using their own dead to provide the bone ash for the soft paste.
The People are eternal/undying/reborn…
He was excavating the remains of these people at the same time he excavated their words. Daniel thought he should be horrified by the idea of turning the dead into building materials and yet, it seemed somehow fitting for a memorial-a eulogy.
Beauty/Love/Life survives Evil/Death/Pain…
He picked a smaller, stiffer brush from his kit and gently applied it to a stubborn patch of dirt obscuring a portion of the text. Patient measured strokes slowly weakened the bonds holding the extraneous material and with a soft puff of air, he revealed a few more precious words.
…come/arrive/live in our shadow/protection…
Who had they written this for? Who had written it?
…Evil/Death/Sorrow dies/consumes/leaves nothing…
Was it written by survivors, or had someone found them before time wiped away the signs of their life and death?
…Singers/Poets remember/immortalize/call forth deeds of beauty/joy…
Daniel put down his brush and sat up with a groan. He rotated his shoulders and neck before grabbing his canteen and taking a long drink. He looked at the portion of the text he'd uncovered and realized the work was going much faster than he'd thought. The soil was looser than it seemed at first glance. He just wished he had some idea of how large the piece was. Daniel took another drink, tipped his head back and closed his eyes against the burning sun, listening to the silence. He mentally ran over the phrases he'd roughly translated and watched as his mind's eye filled in the blanks for him, bringing The People to life.
Men and women in bright colors that reminded him of Tuplo's people met in a village square. There was laughter and teasing reminiscent of Abydos. Music drifted out of airy, open homes and brilliantly colored flowers hung over the side of pristine rooftop gardens. Everywhere people smiled and laughed, and children ran safely through the market throngs. Markets that owed their shape and form more to Daniel's childhood memories than to anything he'd found on this planet.
"Find anything, Daniel?" The images in Daniel's mind faded as he turned to respond to Jack's question.
"Words, Jack. Lots of words." Daniel squinted up at his friend and quirked a half smile at him.
"Oh. Ha. Don't quit your day job." Jack kept his eyes trained on the horizon where clouds were slowly building up.
"What do you think? Should we be worried?" Daniel stood up, stretching as he did.
…The People knew/understood but did not fight/act/remain…
"Hard to say. How much longer do you need here?" Jack gestured at the shallow pit Daniel had dug to reach the plaque, though monument might be more accurate.
"I'm not sure. The ground's not as hard as I'd expected, but I have no good idea of how big it is." Daniel stepped away from the shallow pit and tried to picture the artifact under the dirt. He gestured to the scrub bushes growing a few feet away from the pit. "If their roots are deep, they'd outline the artifact, but if they're broad and shallow, they could be growing on top if it or between pieces of it."
…Our joy/hope lies here/in the moment/before us…
"What does it say?" Jack swiped at one of the dried out bushes with his P-90.
"I think," Daniel mentally reviewed the rough translation he'd been doing as he'd uncovered each bit of text, "I think it's a memorial or a eulogy for the people who used to live here."
…Our season/cycle comes/is/stays for future/children/seeds…
"Like a monument? If they died, who built it?" Jack took off his cap and scrubbed at his scalp before replacing it. He glanced around as if the builders might be hiding, just waiting to introduce themselves.
"I was wondering the same thing. From what I've gotten so far, they were attacked by someone…" Daniel took another drink.
"Snakes?"
"Maybe. Could be. Probably." Daniel shrugged. The odds were great that it was the Goa'uld, but he didn't have any definitive proof. Maybe Sam and Teal'c would find something on the other side of the riverbed.
…Journey/Paths/Lives end in clouds/confusion/dreams…
"Very decisive, Dr. Jackson."
Daniel rolled his eyes and declined to respond. With one last glance at the clouds smudging the horizon, he lay back down on the ground and began the painstaking work of excavating the remains of The People.
"Who built you?" Daniel whispered the question to the stone. Perhaps not all of them had died. He had no doubt that something terrible had happened here, but his translations, so far, were too nebulous to be certain. Too many questions, too many possibilities. He needed the whole text, at least, before he'd be able to make complete sense of it. Had they rallied at the end and driven off their attackers?
…Evil/Death/Pain cannot hold/remain/survive…
Did they use the gate? Had trading parties returned home only to find it destroyed and their families dead? Daniel shivered in the midday heat. His detour to the alternate reality all those years ago left him with nightmares of returning from a mission only to find Earth had been attacked while they were gone.
…We seek/travel/uncover the all/beauty/story…
Perhaps there had been survivors who left the monument to their dead and moved on through the gate. Where did they go? Were they still out there? Daniel ran his fingers over the word he thought might mean "beauty" and "life" and possibly "eternity" in this dialect. "I wish I could have met you." A gust of wind whipped dirt across the exposed portion of the monument. Daniel looked up, smelling rain on the wind.
"Pack it up, Daniel!" Jack nodded to the horizon they'd been watching before and Daniel sighed at the sight. Angry-looking dark clouds roiled in the near distance. Flashes of lightning skittered through them, though the thunder was slow in coming. At the rate the wind was picking up, it wouldn't be long before the flat dry plain they were on would be awash with mud, if they were lucky, or subject to flash flooding if they weren't. High ground was a pipe dream, and the only rational plan was to hightail it to the gate before the storm caught up with them.
Daniel quickly gathered up his equipment, taking a few moments to make sure he had pictures of the exposed area as well as the surrounding area. Perhaps he could enhance the images and get some hints about the size of the still-buried portion. As he stuffed his camera into his pack, he shifted the extra tarp he carried. Glancing quickly at the oncoming storm he decided he had the time.
"Jack! Help me with this!" Daniel set his pack to the side and shook out the tarp over the exposed words. The wind tugged at it as if trying to pull it from his grasp. Jack muttered, but didn't argue. Daniel tossed Jack some tent stakes and they quickly secured the tarp over the shallow pit. Daniel shoveled rocks and dirt onto the windward edge while Jack kicked some along the sides.
Daniel had his shovel packed and his pack on his back in moments and they moved out, the wind pushing them along as if escorting them from the planet. He half heard Jack talking to Sam over the radio.
"Carter and Teal'c'll meet us at the gate." Jack glanced at Daniel. "You know if Carter didn't find anything worth mining, I doubt we'll get to come back here." Daniel nodded at his friend and looked back over his shoulder at the dark green tarp showing starkly against the dun ground. He met Jack's eyes and shrugged.
"We might not be back, Jack. But maybe," he recalled one of the last lines he'd uncovered.
…Singers/Poets remember/immortalize/call forth deeds of beauty/joy…
"Maybe someone else will find it."
"You're a hopeless optimist, Daniel." Jack threw his arm across Daniel's shoulders.
For once, Daniel didn't feel like that was a criticism, and he waited a moment before ducking out from under Jack's arm. For a moment, they weren't SG-1, just friends/brothers, without the weight of their jobs/world pressing down on them. They grinned at each other and for a moment, the People's words running through the back of Daniel's mind weren't mired in sorrow and death, but in hope and beauty and life. The fanciful image of the People that had come to him earlier returned as they trudged toward the gate.
…Beauty/Life/Eternity waits/is/approaches…
Daniel glanced at the man walking beside him, then once more over his shoulder at the dark green smudge on the ground. Ahead the gate gleamed in the sunlight even as the clouds shadowed the ground Daniel and Jack walked. Sam waved while Teal'c stood tall beside her. Jack returned her wave as the first raindrop spattered on the ground in front of them.
"We're gonna get drenched." Jack didn't sound nearly as upset as he might have.
"Yeah, well, we've been wet before." Daniel broke into a jog when Jack did. Sam started dialing before they got there and by the time the rain had started in earnest they were running, holding onto each other to keep from slipping.
…Storm/Death/Renew lives in the space/range/time of youth/growth/yearning…
Jack yelled at the others to go on through and Daniel couldn't help but chuckle at Jack's muttered, "…sense to come in out of the rain…". They slowed as they approached the gate a moment later and carefully scraped the worst of the mud off their boots. The steps up to the gate were smooth and looked slick. Daniel carefully approached the event horizon, grabbing the gate itself to keep from slipping. He offered his arm to Jack as the other man followed him up the steps. Together, they stepped through. Before the numbing cold of the wormhole took him, Daniel sent a thought/wish/hope to The People.
May you find peace/love/serenity in your afterlife/rebirth/renewal and may we be dealt with as gently/honorably/respectfully by those who come/arrive/discover us.